Craol is the representative, co-ordinating, lobbying, training, and support group for the Irish Community Radio Movement.

The CRAOL achievement awards were started in 2007 as a way for its member community radio stations to showcase their work.

Moral of the story?

When you access third level education be sure to get involved with your student radio station (and any other club or society that you fancy). At the very least, you’ll learn some basic media skills, and you never know, you might even help your station to win an award. I didn’t study media and some of my best college times have revolved around Wired 99.9FM. Not going to college? Then get involved with your local community radio. It makes listening to commercial radio a more interesting experience when you have hands on “behind the scenes” experience.

Thing the second.

I’ve been accepted onto a course that I really want to do. It starts tomorrow at 9a.m. – which means that I really need to get this blog post wrapped up!

I still remember how absolutely delighted I was to receive it as I had been eyeing up a similar colourway in a different yarn line at the time. It’s like she was reading my mind!🙂 Awesome friends are awesome. Little did she know that her gift of yarn would keep me occupied in 2012 and in 2014.

My first play with this yarn was in following a pattern found in one of my many knitting magazines. In this case, an issue of Simply Knitting (pictured above).

I had so much fun seeing the colour graduations appear as I knit. Unusually for me, I followed the pattern as it was shown. However, this led me into difficulties as you can read here. There was an error in the pattern. The Making Spot (now sadly defunct) was able to help me out by providing me with an amended version of the pattern.

As you can see, following the pattern, amendments and all, left me with a rather petite shawlette. I was so delighted to be finished the project that I left it as was and decided that if I knit the shawl again that I would add in more repeats in order to make it bigger.

Time went on by, as it is wont to do, and I found that my lovely looking blue triangle wasn’t getting any wear. It just wasn’t long enough to be feasible for me to wear in the way that I generally use shawls. So, with exams looming I decided that it was the perfect time to undo the cast off, place the stitches back onto a circular and add those repeats in order to make it longer.

Adding those repeats made me feel a whole lot better about my abilities as I faced into my exams. There’s nothing like craftwork to remind a person that exams aren’t everything and that grades aren’t everything. I’m still a capable crafter (even if my mind doesn’t retain all the the information available to me in my notes about Transactional SQL).

It’s a grand size now and I got to wear it, feeling ridiculously warm, on my way to my 2nd last exam.

(Please ignore the state of the car. I try my best to do precisely that).

My exams are all done and dusted now and so is my Blue Triangular Shawl (for the second and final time).

Happy crafting from Squidge and me🙂

Oh, by the way, I have another lovely friend (I’m lucky with my friends🙂 ) called Hazel who will be on the Great Irish Bake Off tonight. You can see more here. I’m totally #teamhazel

It’s made from Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Baby Fair Isle effect DK yarn and edged with a cotton yarn (the details of which elude me).

It’s been tried and tested by my favourite little knitwear model. It’s meant to fit a baby up to 10lbs. Wyatt’s bigger than that now but it still fits him. I think it’s a gender neutral colourway. My daugher disagrees. Oh well. We both agree that the colourway does nothing for his colouring though.

It’s a grand design for throwing on over a long sleeved vest or a babygro. There are no buttons to fiddle with. I made it long so it reaches down past the lower back to keep baby nice and snuggly.

I’m sure I have a better picture of him wearing it……somewhere.

The second item is a black beanie with a varigated band of colour.

It was made for the Teen but she hasn’t worn it since this photo was taken. According to my instragram account it was taken 55 weeks ago. She’s had over a year to wear it. I think it’s about time that it found a new home with someone else.

The black yarn is a mystery to me but it is lovely and squishy and I’m fairly sure that it’s a 100% acrylic. It’s knit in a 2×2 rib so it’s got a lot of give.

The varigated yarn band is Colinette Jitterbug and the colourway is Jewel 54. It’s a 100% merino.

If you would like to take part in my little giveaway here’s what you need to do:

1 – Leave a comment on this post with either “Vertebrae”, “Beanie” or “Vertebrae and Beanie” to let me know what item(s) you’re entering for.

2 – One entry per person per item

3 – You have until Friday 23rd May to enter. I’ll pick two names out of the hat on Saturday morning and announce the winners on the blog.

4 – You can enter from anywhere in the world. The items are light so the postage is on me.

For those with animal dander allergies – Please note that while these items will be freshly laundered before being sent to the winners – I live in a house with a cat and a dog who are both very generous with their fur.

….is when my grandson started to become a twinkle in my daughters eye.

She’s just after stating that Riverfest just won’t be the same anymore.

That’s true.

It’s at this time of year that Wyatt was conceived and now it will be remembered as the time of year that his father passed away.

A teething 12 week old and a grieving young mother do not make for an easy combination.

Not to mention the fact that it’s a week before the start of my final year exams!

I usually go to Limerick Stitch’n’Bitch on a Sunday but have stayed home to help with Wyatt and to just “be there” and listen.

Feeling fairly helpless to make things better (it’s not a situation that I can control so I had to find something that I could positively control) I set about tidying and doing laundry (when Wyatt wasn’t munching on my thumb).

While sorting through what could go in the next wash, I came across one of the two pairs of jeans that I’m comfortable wearing.

They’re so comfortable that I’ve worn them through.

While ripped jeans are all the rage, these rips are placed where I feel less than confident about flashing flesh.

(Let’s just ignore the fact that these are the very same ripped jeans that I wore to Steve’s memorial service. I felt less than comfy in the line we formed to light candles in his memory).

Anyhow.

Quite the sizeable rip, right?

There was a sizeable rip on the upper, inner thigh of both pants legs.

Faric scrap stash drawer. Yes, I have one of those now.

This may look like a stash of useless bits and pieces – but it’s totally not.

It’s a drawer of potential.

Cotton fabric left over from making the calico tote with the patchwork pocket

This leftover scrap of cotton fabric is the means by which my jeans were to become respectable attire once more.

Bondaweb

The white paper type article in the picture above isn’t just a sheet of waxy paper. It’s Bondaweb.

Bondaweb is a double-sided adhesive. It’s backed on one side with waxy paper.

The glue side (which is dry and unsticky to the touch) is ironed onto the fabric you want to apply something to.

In this case, my jeans. The something that I wanted to apply was the scrap of fabric.

Strips of Bondaweb laid around the rip

I cut strips of Bondaweb from the larger sheet and laid them around the rip in the jeans.

Glue side down and waxy paper side up.

A hot iron was used to activate the glue by pressing down on the paper.

It only takes a few seconds with a hot iron.

The Bondaweb strips after being ironed.

The next step is to peel the layer of paper away from the layer of now activated glue.

Can you see them? The faint lines of white around the rip.

Part of the glue has melted and been affixed to the jeans material. The part that was just under the paper has yet to be activated.

I placed the scrap of fabric onto the rip making sure that the Bondaweb strips were covered by the scrap fabric. The fabric was placed right side down against the wrong side of the jeans – this is so that when worn, the right side of the fabric will be visible through the rip.

I used the hot iron again to activate the upper layer of glue. The fabric was now fairly firmly attached to the inside of my jeans.

I think you can just about make out the fabric in the pictures below.

As I used three smaller pieces of fabric on one pants leg, I chose to stitch these pieces together so that they would be more secure and so that they would lie flat and not annoy me while I wore the jeans. There are a few stitches of green embroidery floss visible on one pants leg as a result.

No one will spot them though…….unless they’re staring at my inner thighs (which will warrant an explanation as to their intentions towards me).

Thank goodness for the ability to control small things and create positive outcomes.

My baby and her baby are curled up together sleeping on our battered but comfy couch. The very picture of love.

Wyatt now no longer has a father he can get to know as he grows older (and he isn’t acknowledged by his fathers immediate family) but he does have a mother (and a wealth of other people) who shower him with love and will continue to do so.

I’m very glad that my daughter has her son and that he has her.

Wyatt is the reason that she’s eating and the reason that she smiled through her tears today.

One of the reasons that I (am obsessed with) like crafting so much is that sticks, string and sundry other notions may be transformed into a myriad of items that may range from being useful, beautiful, kooky, comforting, thought provoking, soothing, community building or any mixture of those things.

There’s a world of potential in these pictures.

This bundles of fat quarter cotton fabric became an Easter bunny

These printed instructions combined with this fabric sissors helped to transform several sheets of felt into colourful flowers

These two balls of Sirdar Snuggly Crofter Fair Isle Effect DK yarn became a slouchy hat for a classmate of mine

These three yarns have been used to start (and restart) a crochet blanket. It’s a work awaiting progress

4mm tips for my beloved KnitPro circular needles were purchased from the lovely This Is Knit

These seemingly random pieces of knitting became a pair of bootees that warmed the feet of a little boy called Oscar.

Some of the items in the pictures have fulfilled their potential by becoming finished objects or have helped in the creation of items which have brought smiles and warmth into my live and into the days of other people.

The potential of positive outcomes.

That’s what I love about craft.

My heart and mind are awash with curiosity and creative notions when presented with yarns, needles, fabric, colours and the time to play with them.

I love potential.

Even when it’s unfulfilled. The only things required for almost everything to express its potential are time, ingenuity and the right circumstances.

I think it’s the same with people.

Given the time and right circumstances people are capable of amazing things.

Those things don’t have to be prize worthy to be amazing.

The ability to actively listen over a cup of tea is developed over time and its impact can be amazing – lifesaving even.

So given the fact that I adore potential, in both things and people, it won’t come as a surprise to know that the loss of potential is what breaks my heart.